The Associated PressJamie Dixon and the Pittsburgh Panthers are the No. 1 seed in the Southeast Regional, the one that finishes up in New Orleans.

But the prospects of landing some of basketball’s elite programs or even a few of its biggest underdogs had members of the local host committee in a good mood Sunday after the NCAA selection committee announced this year’s field of 68.

Led by No. 1-seed Pittsburgh and No. 2-seed Florida, as well as traditional power and 10th-seeded Michigan State and proverbial underdogs Butler and Gonzaga, the Southeast Regional has the perfect mix of teams, said local host committee chairman Jeff Hundley.

“We have a great draw,” Hundley said. “We have a good mix of traditional powerhouses, along with some teams that have been Cinderella-type stories in recent years. Overall, I think we did well — and we expect a good draw.

“It’s an exciting time of year. This weekend was a great example with the conference tournaments and all the buzzer-beaters and close games and upsets along the way. I think we will watch it anxiously and with some excitement as the teams go on. Whoever ends up in New Orleans will be a deserving team and we look forward to hosting them.”

New Orleans, which is the site of next year’s Final Four, is hosting its fourth regional and its first since 1990. It is one of four regional sites this year, along with Anaheim, Calif., San Antonio and Newark, N.J. The tournament concludes with the Final Four in Houston on April 2 and 4.

The early favorite to win the Southeast Regional is Pittsburgh. The Panthers, who won the regular-season Big East championship with a 15-3 record and enter the tournament at 27-5 overall, is a No. 1 seed for the second time in the last three years.

To get this point Pittsburgh, led by All Big East guard Ashton Gibbs, beat five top 25 teams before losing in the conference tournament final to Connecticut.

Hundley said the Southeast Region was lucky to land Pittsburgh, a team he believes is capable of winning the NCAA title.

“Being a big college basketball fan, I’ve watched Pittsburgh throughout the year,” Hundley said. “And I think everyone would agree that the Big East has been the strongest conference all year. To have a chance to get a team of their caliber that makes it special.”

Florida, which lost to Kentucky in the SEC Tournament championship game, BYU, which is led by NCAA scoring champion Jimmer Fredette, and Wisconsin are the other favorites to reach New Orleans.

The top teams could be challenged by some would-be Cinderella teams in Old Dominion, Belmont and Utah State, along with Butler, which reached the NCAA title game last season, and Gonzaga.

“You hesitate to call those types of schools Cinderella schools because they have proven that year in and year out they are in the tournament and they can do some things,” Hundley said.

But Hundley wouldn’t go as far as to tab the Southeast Region as the “Cinderella Region,” as some NCAA analysts did after the bracket was revealed.

“I’m not that good of a prognosticator at this point in time, but I certainly think that there are some opportunities for some upsets and some exciting basketball along the way,” he said.